Samantha Meese, community blogger

About Me:

I'm a Portland Winterhawks season ticket holder and all-around hockey fanatic. I also blog about the NHL for Kukla's Korner. When I'm not at the rink, I can be found wine tasting in the gorge, swimming laps at the local pool or napping.

They only show up when they're first posted, then just get pushed down as new posts from the other bloggers appear. You can go directly to the blog from the list on the right hand side of KK, or from the menu that he now has up top, and all my recent posts will be there for perusing. I've been posting about once or twice a week during playoffs, simply because the Winterhawks are taking up more time at the moment. I do plan to post something new in the next few days, and that will appear on the main page for a little while.

Hi there! I realized the other night when I saw her that I must have goofed on her age - sorry about that and thanks for confirming so I get it right in future. It's my pleasure to include her, and I must say that jersey is THE best. It's easy to see why Brad is so fond of her too. Cheers!

He was probably trying to make up for the fact that his brother Jordan was not in the lineup last night. Ironically enough, I believe that was due to a two-game suspension handed down for a penalty against the Hawks last weekend. But when they are both in the lineup....be afraid. Be very afraid.

I see that Sven and if I recall correctly, Derrick, were wearing the A last night. I think that will help them grow into leadership roles of their own. It's an honor and a responsbility, and I think they will wear it well. Personally, I think some of the delay on the big C has more to do with the final roster not being in place as yet. Several of the players who are still with their NHL teams would also make excellent Captains should they return to us, and that may be part of it. We shall see. For now, let's hope the lesson was learned and for tonight, the C is for comeback.

I know Taylor will be 20 in December, and in everything I've either read or heard, including Mike Johnston's interview with oregonlive, he is referred to as a 20-year-old. Many of those same stories also predict he may stick with the Predators one way or another this season. I'd be sad to see him go, but I'll be happy for him if he does stay with them.

No worries. That happened to someone else's comments last week too - I think there might be gremlins in the oregonlive.com posting system. I shall send word to the trained professionals in charge of technology. It's always my pleasure to write about this team. Thanks for tuning in and commenting... twice even :-).

I talked to the players on Wednesday and they are ready for the post season. I am confident they will give me plenty of positive news to report. No need to move to the vehicle :_). The station usually provides a copy of the segment afterwards and I will post or recap it here. Thanks for tuning in!

Thanks for the clarification on the Jordan fight. It was hard to see who did what from where I was. All I could see looked like that scene in Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers where the Uruk-Hai dig into a goblin and it's like "looks like meat's back on the menu boys." Only instead of goblin bits, it was mitts and sticks and what not. Still hilarious to watch when you can only see part of it.

Bummer. You missed a real humdinger: bad blood, evil plan/coincidences...it was all that and more. Not to worry: thanks to Brad and the brawl and Tayler and Tyler Wotherspoon's ejection earlier, two thirds of the game should be available on hockeyfights.com. I plan to check in with Sven on Wednesday to see what his parents thought of Portland, the Kamloops game, and whatever else transpires in the next few days. Look for an update over the holiday weekend. Thanks for reading. I'm glad you're enjoying what you see here.

Major dork alert/correction: Last night when I was posting this, the OT goal was credited to Ryan Johansen on the whl.ca game summary and I thought I heard the announcers say that it was him. The OT goal was scored by Brad Ross. My apologies. Oy! No more blogging while I'm watching the Pens lose to the Bruins at the same time.

That New Year's Eve game is one of my favorite sports moments of all time. If I remember correctly: when he did the photo for the 1st star, instead of just bending over to take the photo with the little girl who presented it to him, he got down on one knee. Ian is just an all-around class act. I hope he gets picked up by an organization whose name ends in HL. If not, I propose rock star as a plan B. When he did the perfect playlist on 94.7, he said he'd sing along to a Kings of Leon song in the car when he and Gasper drove to the rink. Rock star is a perfectly acceptable fall back plan in my book. See, there I go again with my entertaining thoughts...